1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to winches and associated equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
Contemporary hydraulic winch designs suffer from drawbacks of non-constant torque, power transfer and cable limitations. A winch will provide the greatest torque on the cable being winched when the cable is unspooled and before any cable has been wrapped around the spool of the winch. As the cable wraps around the spool, the torque decreases as well as the amount of "line pull," the effective tension exerted on the cable by the winch. No hydraulic winch known to the applicant is capable of generating very high line pull (on the order of 45,000 lbs), particularly after a number of wraps of cable are added to the spool. Conventional winches are also limited in the amount of large diameter cable (such as 9/16") which they can carry. Typically, this amount is on the order of 500 feet or so. This limitation is imposed principally by the size of the spools and windings of the winches. Related, however, is the fact that the hydraulic motor for a contemporary hydraulic winch is typically rated at a particular capacity for line pull. If the winch reaches or exceeds its rated capacity, a bypass or relief feature will prevent the winch from providing additional line pull.